The present invention relates to a connector for use in connecting and disconnecting fluid carrying conduits. The connector is particularly suitable for use in subsea locations where it is necessary to connect and disconnect oil and/or gas carrying conduits to and from subsea production modules and pipelines although this subsea use of the connector is preferred rather than essential as the connector can equally well be used in a land or platform based application.
The need for economical development of marginal gas or oil fields is increasing. Such fields are often beyond the range of multiphase flow to an existing platform facility and too small to justify the construction of a new facility. In these cases, the option of single stage separation on the sea bed and boosting back to an existing facility becomes very attractive.
The increasing use of modularised processing systems for water depths of 60-180 meters has been brought about by the need to reduce the subsea installation and maintenance time. The use of interchangeable modules in a subsea system requires the need for suitable two-part connectors which will enable the module to be lowered into position and connected up to the gas/oil supply and also removed therefrom by means operated from the surface.
A connector of this type is disclosed in published PCT specification No. WO 89/03002 which describes a connector for use in connecting and disconnecting fluid carrying conduits of the "plug and socket" type. The connector comprises co-operating parts in the form of a female part to be mounted on a subsea module and a complementary male part over which the female part fits. Each of the female and male parts are provided with a plurality of bores which can be connected to fluid carrying conduits. Tapered cylindrical sleeves are provided on the male and female parts respectively which have respective ports therein for intercommunicating the respective bores to permit fluid flow through the communicated bores and thus through the connector. These cylindrical sleeves can be rotated to discommunicate the bores and stop fluid flow through the bores and thus through the connector in which position, the two connector parts can be disconnected. This connector also has a central guide passage in it which receives a guide post used to properly orientate the two connector parts during connection. Because of this central guide passage, the fluid carrying bores through the connector have to follow a tortuous path in that their inlet ducts have to be disposed radially around the central guide passage whereas the outlet ducts connected thereto run parallel to the central guide passage thereby creating a right angle in the flow path through the connector. This acute bend in the flow path is highly undesirable as it restricts the possibility of "pigging" of the pipeline connected to the connector for cleaning purposes as the pig cannot readily pass through the connector due to the tortuous path of the fluid conduits in it. A further disadvantage of this construction is that significant pressure losses occur due to the tortuous path of the fluid conduits. This is highly undesirable as many processing operations are sensitive to pressure losses. A further disadvantage of this construction is that the gas/oil carrying conduits passing through the connector must by-pass this central passage which restricts the number of conduits which can be accommodated in the connector.